Don't let the truth spoil a good yarn, they say. Sadly, in this instance, it does.

"It's not true," Moore laughs. "It was really cold over there and I used to wear sunglasses. I remember the time ... I had my coat zipped up, my hat on and my hands up here [near his face]. But, no, I wasn't asleep. I don't fall asleep when I'm coaching cricket!"

Seven years on from that tour of England, the 49-year-old is very much awake to the task ahead of him as NSW's answer to Pat Howard.

Sitting at his desk inside Cricket NSW's headquarters, Moore does not claim to wield the power of Howard, the former Wallaby pulling the strings of the game nationally since his post-Argus review appointment three years ago.

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But in his new position as the organisation's general manager of cricket performance, Moore's influence is unquestionable.

As Australian coaches Darren Lehmann and Cathryn Fitzpatrick answer to Howard in the national chain of command, state coaches Trevor Bayliss and Joanne Broadbent now report to Moore.

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Not that Moore intends to be tyrannical. Bayliss and Broadbent have done just fine lately.

Bayliss led the Blues to Sheffield Shield victory last season and the Ryobi Cup final and Broadbent helped the Breakers to continue their dominance.

Moore's job is more strategic. But as the day-to-day contact for Howard in Sydney and with eight of the 14-man Test squad to tour the United Arab Emirates next month based here, he has emerged as a key cog in the Australian game.

"Cricket NSW is in good shape," he says. "It's just about making sure we don't become complacent about our position in the world. I think people were chasing us 15 years ago, and some states and counties would have thought they've gone past us in different ways, so I think it's important to start setting the tone again and setting the benchmark."

Moore, a former state women's coach and lecturer at the Australian Catholic University, went on to spend three years as, firstly, an assistant coach of the West Indies and then, for a tour of England in 2007, their head coach.

They lost that Test series 3-0 to England in 2007, and he was not offered the full-time job. Instead he took over the national coaching set-up in equally balmy associate nation Bermuda.

The experience taught him plenty.

"Brian Lara had just retired after the 2007 World Cup and we went to the UK. [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul was just the rock [he averaged 148 in three Tests] ... but when you lose someone like Lara it isn't easy.

"We pushed England close twice but their experience and their quality versus our inexperience ... we just weren't able to convert the wins.

"We drew one Test and lost the others but we ended up winning the one-day series 2-1. We had our highs and lows but it was a great learning experience for myself."

Lara, not surprisingly, made a particular impact on him, and Moore's relationship with the legendary left-hander was enough to get him to conduct sessions with academy players in Bermuda whenever he was on the island. He hopes to do the same whenever Lara, a regular visitor here, is in Sydney.

"You listen to Lara talk and what he doesn't know about batting isn't worth knowing," Moore says. "I remember when he got the 220-odd at the Adelaide Oval [in 2005], to break Allan Border's record [as Test cricket's leading run scorer]. He told me how he was going to score his runs and he did it."

Moore, a former wicketkeeper who played one first-class game for the Blues, has taken the post at Driver Avenue three decades after playing in a NSW under-19s team that featured Steve and Mark Waugh, Mark Taylor, Brad McNamara and Gavin Robertson.

"I think out of the 14 players, there were 11 first-class players, four internationals and two Australian captains," he says. "We didn't win the under-19s, though!"